1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a universal battery charger apparatus.
A. Provides a wide range of current limiting abilities.
B. Capable of charging a wide range of different voltage batteries.
C. Provides a 115 volt DC power supply.
D. Provides a DC arc welding system.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general there are a good number of different battery chargers that use part of a vehicle""s electrical system and add a switching system that pulls away from maintaining that vehicle""s battery system, using said vehicle""s alternator to charge external batteries and/or for arc welding. One such battery charger is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,089 issued May 15, 1984 to Winkler. In said patent, I used a potentiometer to get the different controlled output voltage levels for charging batteries. The problems with using a potentiometer is after it was used for awhile, said potentiometer would have blank spots and would break contact, causing the output voltage to go wild. Life of said potentiometer was on the short side. Also, I found said potentiometer was on the inconvenient side for adjusting for different output voltages. There are a good number of 115 volt AC and/or 230 volt AC generators on the market. I am not referring to the large ones, as their engines go as low as 2.5 HP and up. They are self-contained and portable. In general they produce AC power with quite limiting 12 volt battery charging abilities. There are a number of DC arc welders with a 115 volt power supply on the market, but, as far as I know they are not designed for charging external batteries. They are self-contained and portable, but they are big, bulky and heavy. There are also some battery powered arc welders, one such arc welder is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,786 issued Oct. 5, 1993 to Kiknchi, Tanuma and Suzuki of Japan. Said patent appears to have no battery charging ability other than its own 36 volt battery system.
For the summary of the invention see the Block Diagram in FIG. 1. It is an object of this invention to provide a universal battery charger apparatus, powered by a small gas engine in the range of 5 HP low and up to 10 HP high. Said engine to be equipped with a small 12 volt alternator with at least a 4 AMP output rating. Said alternator to be used with a regulator to maintain a small 12 volt battery, as well as supplying voltage to the input of the circuit of said battery charger. A standard vehicle""s alternator is used, its field is powered and controlled by the circuit of said battery charger.
It is another object of this invention to provide a battery charger capable of producing a wide range of different controlled voltages for charging batteries.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a wide range of current limiting abilities independent of the voltage sensor.
It is another object of this invention to provide a battery charger capable of light duty arc welding, as well as combining its output energy at the workload in arc welding with a battery powered arc welder, as in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,934 issued Nov. 10, 1987 to Winkler, when said battery powered arc welder has no arc, its 36 volt battery system automatically recharges from said battery charger.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a 115 volt DC power supply, with no fuse nor circuit breaker needed in the output.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cold weather starting aid for motors with a 12 or 24 volt battery system; 1. by keeping the batteries charged; 2. When the starter of said motor engages, the battery charger will produce full output power up to the current limit setting, thus boosting the starting ability of the equipment or vehicle""s motor; 3. Also, said charger can power block heaters.
It is a further object of this invention is to get away from the problems in prior art, for example, a battery charger, an arc welder, and/or a DC power supply being installed in a vehicle and in some cases, a second alternator is also installed, thus making their system portable. When said vehicle is tied up with repair work being done, or far worse yet, people trade off said vehicle. Keep in mind older vehicles had reasonable room under their hood and elsewhere for installing different equipment. As years have gone by, less space is left available for installing any added equipment in newer vehicles.
My invention solves the above problems in prior art by keeping the apparatus self-contained, light weight and portable. Battery powered arc welders can also be self-contained and portable.